Robson result elicits talk of shot at the big time

Sports Writer

Friday 31 August 2012

THE best, if slightly garbled, line in the aftermath of Laura Robson's dismissal of Kim Clijsters belonged to the man who asked the teenager if she felt like she had just killed Bambi.

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Stewart Fisher

While the younger participant can perhaps look ahead, emboldened by the signature victory of her short career, to opportunities at the summit of the sport, the cherished veteran was rushed into retirement rather more prematurely than she had hoped, afforded only a brief chance to reminisce before she was effectively escorted off the premises.

Robson today faces the in-form Li Na, an assignment which already looks more troublesome than taking on the three-time US Open champion at a venue where she had not lost since 2003. But she can rely upon some in-depth advice from Heather Watson, Li's first-round victim here and, a bit like Andy Murray's victory over Andy Roddick in 2009, the 18-year-old now knows that she can sustain a high standard of play for an entire match against one of the big hitters of the world game. The Scot, who twice played with Robson at the season-opening Hopman Cup in Sydney, and won an Olympic silver medal in her company a couple of weeks ago, said that if she can further improve her conditioning and movement around the court that she has the game to make a dent in the upper echelons of the world rankings. "When we were playing I didn't say too much," Murray said. "But she has a potential to move fairly well. You need to want to chase down balls and believe that you can get to balls, and at the Olympics after the first match or so, she was getting to a lot of balls."But she's a good player. You saw that against some of the guys at the Olympics when she was returning the serve with ease sometimes. She's got very easy power and great timing. It's just going to take a little while for everything to click together. But if you look at how many teenagers there are in the top 100 compared with what there used to be, she's right up there with the best in the world for her age. If she keeps improving, she's going to get very high." Robson's stunning win goes down as a feather in the cap of new coach Zeljko Krajan, with whom she has worked for just a matter of weeks. "I feel like I am improving," said the world No.89, "but I haven't been able to do a full training week with him [Krajan] yet, so it is still very early days. Andy and I played some great matches at the Olympics. We were really close to gold. But I feel like I am playing better than I was then, especially with my serve. I managed to serve out both sets which I struggled with a little bit during the Olympics. "I have a really tough match next round against Li Na. She's in great form and just won Cincy. I'm going to have a little chat to Heather and see what her thoughts were, as they played each other first round." Clijsters, who offers as good an example as any of how to get around a court, also had kind words for Robson: "Physically if she gets better and more explosive, I think she's going to be a great player, someone that I'll be watching, keeping an eye on." As one glittering career ends, another may just be beginning.

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Robson result elicits talk of shot at the big time

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